Some people say it's foolish to worry about soulless creatures overtaking the earth and devouring our brains.
I say they've already won.

Blog Credo

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Hillary

Hillary Clinton is a fascinating character within the Democratic Party. While many of the rank and file love her, the "base" is suspicious of her because of the sins of her husband, and I'm not talking about Lewinsky. Bill Clinton was the head of the hated DLC, which was probably really necessary in 1992 but does not represent the bulk of Democrats today. The energy behind the Draft Warren movement is primarily about that. Corporate Democrats combine all the problems Democrats labor under without playing to the party's strengths.

The email kerfuffle is kind of a big deal, I guess. It does tend to show the old Clinton tendency to decide the regular rules don't apply to them. That's not unique to Bill. She was a prime proponent of the "lawyer up" tendency of the Clinton White House. I think she's learned a little something since then, but the last thing she needs are questions about transparency.

One reason I supported Obama in 2008 was my fatigue with the Clinton Nontroversies and irrational hatred flooding from the GOP. I naively thought that Obama would be a fresh start. Turns out the GOP will simply not accept the legitimacy of a non-Republican president.

How Clinton handles this is important. Will she revert to the "lawyer up" default position? Will anyone besides Darrell Issa care?

But there continues to be a strong predilection to look for an "ABC" candidate - Anyone But Clinton. That is part of triangulation, the repeal of Glass-Steagall, welfare reform and other issues. Right now, the only plausible option is Joe Biden.

Part of the appeal of a Clinton candidacy is the idea that she could engineer a wave election as she hearkens back to memories of the Gilded '90s. The GOP went insane after Obama was elected and often openly embraced their racist elements with the birth certificate nonsense. If Clinton wins the nomination, their sexist impulses will be given full rein.

She could win 40 states.

Or she could continue to commit unforced errors and only preserve the Obama coalition's hold on one branch of government.